2010

• Platts — The global provider of energy information ranked Wisconsin Energy as a Top 250 Global Energy Company for 2010, moving up to number 170 from 182 in 2009 on overall global performance. WEC also ranked 11th among U.S. diversified utilities, 18th among diversified global utilities and 67th for overall performance in the Americas region. Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings™ measures financial performance by examining each company’s assets, revenue, profits and return on invested capital. All ranked companies have assets greater than U.S. $3 billion. Underlying data comes from Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor’s business, a division of McGraw-Hill.
  
• Federation of Environmental Technologists (FET) — We Energies’ agricultural gypsum project was recognized by the FET with a 2010 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Environmental Performance. The award is co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. Agricultural gypsum produced at the Pleasant Prairie and Oak Creek power plants is a byproduct of coal-fired generation at the plants and is available for use in agriculture in Wisconsin and Illinois. Gypsum, while best known as the main ingredient in wallboard, also is used in agriculture to maintain chemical balances between soil, water and plants.
  
• Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) — We Energies was selected for two EPRI Environment Sector Technology Transfer awards. The first award recognized the company’s leadership and active participation in EPRI’s project to develop a digital manual containing ergonomics interventions for electrical workers in fossil-fueled power plants. The award cited Fossil Operations’ Ergonomics Team members for their contributions to improve worker safety through the use of effective training tools. The project, which was led by Dr. Marklin of Marquette University School of Engineering, was initiated more than three years ago. The second award was for expertise in helping EPRI evaluate technologies for treating mercury from flue gas desulfurization wastewaters.
  
• PA Consulting — We Energies was the recipient of the 2010 Performance Excellence Award for Distribution Lines, presented by PA Consulting, the management, consulting and technology firm, which also presents the annual ReliabilityOne Award. PA Consulting added the Performance Excellence awards this year for the 14 companies that participated in the firm’s Polaris Transmission and Distribution Performance Benchmarking program. We Energies won the award based on relative performance on a list of 25 high-level cost, reliability, safety and staffing scorecard measures. We Energies ranked in the high first quartile on most of the cost and reliability measures and in the second and third quartile on the safety and staffing measures. The measures were based on 2009 data.
  
• G.I. Jobs magazine — The publication recognized We Energies as one of the 100 most military friendly employers in the United States. The publication evaluates approximately 5,000 companies on strength of company military recruiting efforts, percentage of new hires with prior military service, and company policies for National Guard and reserve service. We Energies ranks 83rd on the 2011 list.
  
• Milwaukee Public Library Foundation — The foundation presented its 2010 Benjamin Franklin Award to Wisconsin Energy Corporation's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Gale Klappa. The foundation annually recognizes individual leaders and organizations who have made significant contributions to the community and the cause of lifelong learning.
  
• Governor's Award — We Energies' agricultural gypsum project was recognized by the Federation of Environmental Technologists with a 2010 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Environmental Performance. Agricultural gypsum produced at the Pleasant Prairie and Oak Creek power plants is a byproduct of coal-fired generation and available for use in agriculture in Wisconsin and Illinois to maintain chemical balances between soil, water and plants.
  
• Better Business Bureau — We Energies was among an elite group of organizations recognized by the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin as part of the bureau’s 2010 Torch Awards for Business Ethics and Integrity. In the category of businesses with more than 500 employees, We Energies was runner-up. Winners were chosen based on submissions that demonstrated excellence in ethical practices, service, reputation, honest advertising, peer recognition, management practices and employee training in ethical behavior.
  
• Computerworld — The magazine named We Energies one of the Best Places to Work in Information Technology for 2010. The magazine considers benefits, diversity, career development, training, retention and survey responses from IT workers.
  
• Edison Electric Institute — The institute honored We Energies with two awards: the 2010 Supplier Diversity Innovation Award, in recognition of the company’s innovative efforts to encourage diversity among its suppliers, and the Vendor Opportunity Award, honoring the company’s commitment, encouragement and mentoring of minority- and women-owned businesses.
  
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory — The organization's annual assessment ranks the We Energies renewable energy program as ninth in the nation in terms of participation with more than 21,000 customers taking part, and 10th in terms of sales at 173-million kilowatt-hours.
  
• Wisconsin Safety Council and Department of Workforce Development — The organizations honored We Energies' Port Washington Generating Station with a Wisconsin Corporate Safety Award for 2009 and commended plant employees for their high regard and accomplishments in occupational safety and health.
  
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service —The agency presented a certificate of appreciation to We Energies for managing and preserving habitat for the Karner blue butterfly, a federally endangered species. More Karner blue butterflies live in Wisconsin than anywhere in the world. We Energies helps preserve their habitat in northern Wisconsin by limiting shrub growth in natural gas facility areas, which supports growth of wild lupen, a purple wildflower that is the only food consumed by the Karner blue caterpillar.
  
• Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council — The council recognized We Energies, Milwaukee and Mequon for jointly developing an approach to inventory ash trees as a first step in controlling emerald ash borer disease. We Energies and the two cities were named recipients of the council’s 2009 award for Innovations in Urban Forestry. The emerald ash borer, an invasive, wood-boring beetle that attacks ash trees, was identified for the first time in Wisconsin in August 2008.
  
• Ethisphere Magazine — For the third consecutive year, the magazine named Wisconsin Energy one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. One hundred global companies, across 35 business sectors, were included in the 2010 list, which recognizes companies that demonstrate leadership in ethical business practices. Ethisphere analyzed corporate citizenship and responsibility, corporate governance, innovation that contributes to public well being, industry leadership, executive leadership and tone from the top, integrity track record and reputation, and internal systems and ethics or compliance programs.
  
• Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity — The organization honored We Energies with a Community Partnership award for supporting development of affordable, energy efficient housing in Appleton. The company’s involvement over the past several years has included financial support; Energy Star-rated furnaces and water heaters; technical assistance in analyzing energy use and improving efficiency; training for installation of solar thermal and electric systems; and scholarships for Habitat staff to attend Better Buildings conferences.
  
• Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine — The magazine recognized Wisconsin Energy as one of the 100 best corporate citizens in the U.S. for the third consecutive year. The publication evaluates approximately 1,000 publicly held companies on the basis of environmental performance, employee relations, philanthropy, finance and governance. For the second time, the magazine also placed Wisconsin Energy among the number one ranked companies in the corporate governance category.
  
• Business Council — The council named Gale Klappa, chairman, president and CEO, as the corporation and CEO of the year for We Energies' supplier diversity achievements. In 2009, We Energies partnered with 10 of the 18 ethnically diverse businesses that are members of The Business Council network -- an affiliate organization of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
  
• BizStarts Milwaukee — Gale Klappa, chairman, president and CEO, was honored by BizStarts for his vision to help foster new business growth. BizStarts is an organization dedicated to creating an innovative business climate in a seven-county region in southeastern Wisconsin.